World

Kuwait grants women passports without spousal nod

Kuwait's highest court has granted women the right to obtain a passport without their husband's approval.

Kuwait’s highest court has granted women the right to obtain a passport without their husband’s approval.

According to the ruling published in the daily al-Qabas on Wednesday, the Constitutional Court found the decades-old law requiring a husband’s signature on a woman’s application for a passport “unconstitutional”.

The court ruled it “compromised her humanity”.

The ruling is the latest gain for Kuwaiti women since they were granted the right to vote and compete in elections in 2005.

Unlike in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, women in this small oil-rich ally of Washington can drive and travel without the permission of their fathers or husbands.

Women activists still say they need equal access to government housing and the right to pass their citizenship to their children.—Sapa-AP